Simply not sold on (nearly) everyone's assertion...

...that we're nothing more than a three-point-chucking collection of midgets. If, as so many
of my colleagues maintain, all we can do is shoot from outside the arc, and "Can beat anyone
or lose to anyone" on a given day, common logic tells that to win with the three (and only with
the three), you have to HIT tons of them. And when you do, simple schoolkid's arithmetic will
tell you that you score well into the 70s and 80s...not 60 and 56.

Ahem...those were our winning scores against WHICH two opponents, friends? Definitely says
to me, at least, that we have at least SOMETHING besides outside shooting.

Now don't blindly go off on me. Do we have an inside presence like Sullinger or Green? NO. Do we have
a big forward who can almost dominate inside like a center, a'la Nix (whose name matches his off-court
I.Q.)? NO. Can we play with any consistency with the tree-laden Carolinas and junping-jack Kentuckies?
NO. Oh yes, I'll add this: are we as GOOD, on paper OR on hardwood, as MSU or OSU? NO.

But it just seems impulsive, and not rationally reasoned out, to write the team off as totally one-dimensional.
Trey has demonstrated dribble-penetration, as has Tim Jr., and at times even Stu has shown nice back-door
cut ability.

That said, if we get past Ohio and Temple (yes, I'm putting the Owls in the round of 32), I'll be happier
than a pig in shit. No matter if we lose by 25+ to Carolina, that won't change...given the team we have.

You are right we are not one dimensional. We are 2 dimensional. The second dimension is defense. Our defense gets overlooked because Beilein is known for offense. The reality is he puts a ton of emphasis on defense and that is why you get the Wisconsin-esque 55-50 barn burner games. We have held teams under 65 pts. in 23 out of 33 games with only one of those games ending in a loss (MSU game. MSU scored 64 in a win). Need further proof? We are the 100th ranked offense in scoring (ppg) we are the 25th ranked defense (ppg given up). Yet Beilein is regarded as an offensive genius.

I hate to say it but on offense we are pretty much a one trick pony. Hopefully Mitch helps fix that in the future but with Morgan as our only post presence we are screwed.

Start praying for defense in the tourney or it could be an early exit.

Good point. That's something I stupidly overlooked...and even the rankest
amateur can see hustling effort in our "D" in almost every game. For the
record, we also held OSU under 65 and lost (64-49, I think).

As you say, let's hope to hell it keeps up Friday (and Sunday?). With no one but Smotch over 6-8, we can't expect a whole lot of rebounds on offense,
but one facet of our D that definitely could improve is cutting down on the
number of offensive rebounds ALLOWED...boxing out, posting up, whatever.

Good catch on OSU.

Yea rebounding is appalling. I think Beilein favors turnovers to rebounds honestly. He really emphasizes taking care of the ball and valuing each possession. He also values getting TO's through steals, forcing bad passes and certainly defensive penalties (taking a charge).

I guess if you simplify things a rebound is the same as a turnover in that it changes the possession. So if you are not going to rebound, you have to force turnovers. Since he prefers centers that can shoot and that play outside and set screens he is making the decision to not rebound well. Can't say I agree with the choice but then again I do not get paid millions to coach.

Yes indeed, Willie---(just to let everyone know I'm the same michmike as formerly posted "somewhere else")---

We lost the BTT OSU game by leaps and bounds. But (with McCray) we hope to rebound next year...

Eh?